Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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■ - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29,2003 "S5 Patel to •appear before senators BY ROB SEAL Til K (iAMKOOCK Student Government President Ankit Patel will appear in front of the Student Senate today in re sponse to a subpoena issued by two SG senators. The subpoena was issued by Liberal Arts Sens. Adam Hark and J.D. Shipman about an alleged in fraction of SG code 103.05, which ^forbids hny member of the execu ^ti ve branch of SG to put a measure before the Board of Trustees for approval before consulting the Student Senate. Shipman said Patel went before the Board of Trustees on June 27 ♦PATEL, SEE PAGE 3 Bush maintains hard line on Iraq BY RON FOURNIER THE ASSOCIATE!) PRESS WASHINGTON — Building a case for war against Iraq, President Bush said Tuesday night he will present fresh ev idence to the United Nations next week of Saddam Hussein’s illegal weapons and vowed the United States will lead a campaign to disarm the Iraqi regime if he refuses to surrender its arms. “The course of this nation does not depend on the decision of others,” Bush said in his second State of the Union address. “We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to dis arm him,” the presi dent said. Speaking to Congress and a global television audience, Bush presented a laun dry list of Saddam’s al leged offenses, some of them newly revealed Bush to the public. He said intelligence sources have reported that thousands of Iraqi personnel are at work hiding documents and mate rials from the U.N. weapons inspec tors. Specifically, Bush said Saddam has not accounted for up to 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulism tox in, 500 tons of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agent and upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chem ical weapons. “If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning,” Bush said. For the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks transformed him into a wartime president, Bush faced serious questions about his leadership. Most Americans don’t approve of his handling of the economy, polls show, and only a bare majority support his policies on Iraq — an area where the president enjoyed support of more than 80 percent a year ago. “This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, other presidents and ♦ ADDRESS, SEE PAGE 6 “ « Singing for peace PHOTO BY JOHN RABON/THE GAMECOCK Travis Nagy, a fourth-year USC student, expresses his anti-war sentiments in front of the Thomas Cooper Library. Tuition rise frustrates ’students BY ADAM BEAM THK CAMKCUOK After this semester, Amanda Dimitrov is just six classes away from graduating and going to law school — that is, if she can afford it. The fourth-year criminal justice student has bounced across the country during her collegiate career, attending four colleges in four years. Now she commutes three times a week from her home in Beaufort, S.C. because she can’t afford tuition and housing expenses. “It’s cheaper to stay at home and pay for the gas ffeind drive than it is to live on campus,” Dimitrov said. She drives a total of five hours to get to and from Columbia. But Dimitrov said she will be forced to transfer again at the end of this year because of rising tuition costs. In the past three years, tuition has risen more than 10 percent, and Provost Jerry Odom said an other increase is expected before the semester is out. When she’s not at school, Dimitrov is working in the nursery at the Beaufort YMCA to cover her ex penses. She said that, after scholarships and finan cial aid, she pays about $1,000 a semester. “If it wasn’t that high, yeah I’d probably stay here,” she said. “For law school I can’t drive five hours a day. But Dimitrov isn’t alone, as more students are starting to feel the increased burden of higher tu ition. For Nneka Ibemere, a second-year mechanical engineering student, the rising cost of attending USC ^js affecting her refund checks, which is her only Source of income. Ibemere pays her $300-a-month rent at University Commons with what’s left over from her full scholarship. But with tuition on the rise, that amount is shrinking. “I depend on that ultimately for my bills and ev erything,” she said. “I would end up having to get a job somewhere.” With the state in the middle of a budget crisis and USC forced to cut back, the university has to make up the money somewhere, leaving students frus trated. “I do feel like it’s ridiculous, but what can we do,” Ibemere said. “There is a saying that when two ele ♦ TUITION, SEE PAGE 2 STUDENTS SPEAK OUT PHOTO bY f\A lit BANINtIN/ I Ht liAMtCOCK Facing higher tuition and the prospect of sending their friends to war, USC students have more on their minds this semester than Just walking to class. . I Campus debates Iraq issue BY ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK As America stands on the brink of war, stu dents are faced for the first time with a conflict to be fought by their peers. Even though the flower power mentality is long gone, Iraq is a hot de bate. Third-year history student Joey Oppermann attended the anti-war demonstration held in conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. He thinks the best strategy would be to “kill them with kind ness.” “We need to work in a multi-lateral fashion with other countries in the world and others in the Middle East — a few are supporting us,” Oppermann said. He suggested a modern-day Marshall Plan to provide the Iraqis with sup plies. First-year economics and political science student Bill Vigen echoes Oppermann’s con cems. “Any action taken now would probably be uni lateralist in form, and a strong coalition must be formed with our allies,” Vigen said. For Oppermann, life should be a primary con cern — on both sides. “A war will kill thousands of innocent peo ple in Iraq. That is a serious, serious matter. I’m not comfortable with that. We should do something positive instead of destructive,” he said. First-year political science and economics stu dent Chris Dickson thinks Saddam Hussein doesn’t deserve kind treatment. “I think we should go to war. Time and time again, Saddam has not been compliant with weapons inspections. Now we’ve found chemi cal weapons in clear breach of the U.N., and that justifies war,” he said. “He (Saddam) is one of the only dictators to ever use biological weapons against his own people.” First-year mechanical engineering student Will Petit agrees that war is necessary but doesn’t expect much success from weapons in spections. ♦ IRAQ, SEE PAGE 3 Index Comics and Crossword 10 Classifieds 13 Horoscopes _ 10 ^ Letters to the Editor ~7 , Online Poll^ 7 Police Report 6 Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 53 Low 43 Inside ♦NEWS The Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center will open March 1. Page 2 ♦ THE MIX USC Grad Paul Mendelsohn authors "Where do flies go in winter?” a Gulf War spy novel. Page 8 ♦ THE MIX Lines too long at Pandinis? Read our review of USC's Italian eateiy. Page 8 ♦ SPORTS The men’s basketball team looks to rebound against Tennessee in Knoxville tonight. Page 11 Stargazing through the ages BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE (.'AMECOCK Believe it or not, Carolina stargazers had to wait 111 years and endure two major wars be fore the installation of a func tional campus observatory gave them access to the night skies. According to Edwin Green’s “A History of the University of South Carolina,” USC’s first ob servatory was erected in 1817 dur ing Jonathon Maxcy’s university presidency and located in the gar den of a professor’s house on the Horseshoe. Little else is known about this first observatory, ex cept that it was replaced by a structure in 1852 after the Board of Trustees allotted money for the project. This building, which included a revolving dome and a 7-inch brass telescope, was located be hind DeSaussure College and eventually became known as the Old Observatory. John Marrill Bryan writes in his book “The Architectural History of the South Carolina College” that the Old Observatory was designed by Jacob Graves, ft who also drew up plans for the Longstreet Theatre and is large ly responsible for the design of Rutledge College on the Horseshoe. According to Bryan, the building was badly damaged during the Civil War, and by 1867 the telescope was presumed stolen and.the building’s doors and windows were broken. Daniel Hollis records in his sec ond volume of “The University of ♦ OBSERVATORY, SEE PAGE 3